On July 7, 2020 HHS released a notice on a correction to the name of a March 30, 2020 federal register release titled "Notice of Designation of Scar

ce Materials or Threatened Materials Subject to COVID-19 Hoarding Prevention Measures". This new notice requests to update the named contact to the "Notice of Designation of Scarce Materials or Threatened Materials." The notice also removes the drugs Chloroquine Phosphate and hydroxychloroquine HCl as they are no longer listed as scarce materials.

On July 8, 2020 CMS released a collection request on their Medicaid Program: conditions for payment of power mobility devices, including power wheelchairs and power operated vehicles. Specifically this request asks for comments on an April 5, 2006 final rule that requires a face-to-face examination of the beneficiary by the physician or treating practitioner, a written prescription, and a receipt of pertinent parts of the medical record by the supplier in order to keep in their records for later review from CMS agents. 

On July 10, 2020 IHS released a notice on the intent to expand geographic boundaries of the Purchased/Referred Care Delivery Area for the Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation. This expansion would include the Utah counties of Box Elder, Davis, Salt Lame and Weber. With this expansion Tribal members would now be eligible to receive Purchased Referred Care services and are now expected to serve an additional 171 individuals.

Comments are due August 10, 2020

On July 9, 2020 HHS awarded $21 million in funding to support health centers and their response to COVID-19 from HHS and HRSA. $17 million of this funding will support 78 health center program look-alikes (LALs) to expand COVID-19 testing capacity. The LAL programs are funded through the Health Center Program and operate to provide services according to HRSA Health Center Program requirements. With the addition of these funds, approximately $2 billion has been awarded to HRSA funded health centers during the coronavirus pandemic. These LALs are critical in their communities as they provide testing to a majority of individuals and will continue to expand their testing and testing related activities to more patients as the pandemic continues. Along with this newly released funding, HRSA also released over $4.5 million in funding for COVID-19 response of Health Center Controlled Networks.

On July 8, 2020 the FCC approved its final set of COVID-19 telehealth program applications. This 25 application set included $10.73 million in funding for urban and rural healthcare providers from all over the country. During the course of the FCC's COVID-19 Telehealth Program the agency has accepted 589 funding applications from 47 states with a total of $200 million in funding.

On July 9, 2020 HHS through HRSA released $4 billion in additional relief payments to healthcare providers in response to COVID-19. $3 billion of that funding will be used to support hospitals serving vulnerable populations, while the remaining $1 billion will go to specialty rural hospitals, urban hospitals with certain rural Medicare designations, and hospitals in small metropolitan areas. These additional payments are also now available for dentists to apply for and will now include dentists in the launch of the Enhanced Provider Relief Fund Payment Portal. 

On July 14, 2020 CMS released a Dear State Medicaid Director Letter that described new guidance for the home and community-based services (HCBS) Settings Rule. Due to the response of the COVID-19 pandemic from states, CMS is now changing their HCBS settings criteria with the understanding that it is now difficult for states to comply. CMS's specific concern is with the elderly where social distancing has made it hard for those individuals to participate in their communities. In addition, other concerns have also been brought to the attention of CMS by states on how the setting criteria cannot easily be achieved due to the pandemic. CMS has decided to extend the deadline for ensuring compliance with the Home and Community-Based Settings Regulation. The new deadline is now for March 17, 2023.

On July 2, 2020 the IHS released a Dear Tribal Leader letter on initiating Tribal consultation on the use of $30 million in funding from the Special Diabetes Program for Indians (SDPI). This funding is an offset from previous year funds due to an accumulation of prior SDPI grants. Due to an added sixth year to the current grant cycle for SDPI, a new plan is needed for FY 2020 offset funds. Both offset funds and carry over funds could be used for different purposes. These purposes could include "new grant funding for $10 million per year for 3 years for eligible entities that do not currently have a SDPI grant, or one open to all eligible entities to apply to address diabetes related risk factors." This letter concludes with an invitation for all Tribal leaders to provide feedback to IHS on how this $30 million might be spent. 

The deadline to comment is August 28, 2020.